Samsung is still going after Blackberry, evaluating options : Report

Rumours have been going around till they’ve been micro analyzed and wrung out- Is Samsung buying Blackberry? Is it not? This report claims Samsung is still in talks to acquire BlackBerry or atleast a substantial stake in it.

Although last week, when a fresh rumor about Samsung paying $7.5 billion for Blackberry started doing the rounds, both parties were quick to deny it. The Financial Post says that Samsung is still in active negotiations for that illusive stake in Blackberry, and they hoped to be under the radar during the proceedings, but Reuters caught them with their defenses down.

The report says that they’ve viewed documents put together by Samsung for a New York based investment bank called Evercore, profiling the technicalities and structure of a possible takeover of Blackberry. A source, familiar with the discussions told The Financial Post:

It’s still being pursued right now…it’s still very much an open deal.

Blackberry, in a press release was emphatic in its statement- ‘BlackBerry Limited is aware of certain press reports published today with respect to a possible offer by Samsung to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry’

One of the proposed deals in the report outlines a scenario- how Samsung could obtain Blackberry- acquiring a minority share in the company, which might help secure regulatory approval from western governments nervous about foreign ownership of BlackBerry’s integral security features.

And since we are aware of how Blackberry is not trifling, and it will take a neat deal to get John Chen aboard with the plans- the document also raises the possibility of trying to bring Prem Watsa, the CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings, a major Canadian shareholder of BlackBerry, on board.

The insider, privy to the details said:

We believe that at the upper end of that US$15 price, Prem Watsa is going to be very supportive of this deal.

In addition to understanding the potential Blackberry has in terms of revenue, The Financial Post has included a chart with all the statistical data analyzed- estimates predict BlackBerry hardware revenue will stabilize and that its software revenue will triple from US$235 million in 2014 to US$636 million in 2017.